a 

D 
5 


.7 


BANCROFT 

LIBRARY 

<• 

THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 


THE  REBELS  AND  WOT  THE  REPUBLIC  AN  PARTY 
— •"*  DESTROYED  SLAVERY. 


SPEECH 


HON.  J.  E.  J)OOLITTLE, 

OF    WISCONSIN. 


DELIVERED  IN  THE  SENATE  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES,  FEBRUARY  9,  1864. 


The  Senate,  as  in  Committee  of  the  Whole,  having  under  consideration  the  bill  (S.  No.  41 J 
to  promote  enlistments  in  the  Army  of  the  United  States,  and  for  other  purposes,  the 
pending  question  being  on  Mr.  HENDERSON'S  amendment  to  the  third  section  of  the  bill.— 
Mr.  DOOLITTLE  said  : 

Mr.  PRESIDENT:  War  and  not  peace  ia  oar  real  situation.  Whatever  may 
have  produced  this  state  of  things,  war  is  upon  us  with  ail  its  necessities,  with 
all  its  realities,  with  all  its  stern  duties,  and  we  must  tight  it  through.  At 
this  hour,  whatever  will  give  strength  to  our  armies  in  the  field  and  bring  rev 
enue  to  support  them,  demands  the  first  consideration  of  Congress,  and  of  every 
Department  of  this  Government  If  left  to  me  I  would  speak  but  one  word* 
fill  up  the  ranks,  press  on  the  columns.  To  spare  the  unnecessary  shedding 
of  blood ;  to  save  the  resources  of  the  eountry ;  to  solve  all  financial  question^ 
and  put  our  credit  upon  a  basis  so  strong  as  to  command  tjie  money  of  tht 
world,  I  would  speak  no  other  word  but  "  fill  up  the  ranks,'  press  on  the  col 
umns."  To  secure  liberty  and  Union;  to  secure  peace  with  all  other  nations 
by  inspiring  them  with  respect;  and  to  put  a  final  end  to  that  conspiracy, 
founded  on  slavery,  which  makes  war  against  us,  I  would  still  say,  as  the  moe: 
radical  and  at  the  same  time  the  most  certain  of  all  measures,  "  fill  up  tht 
ranks,  press  on  the  columns."  But,  sir,  my  voice  is  but  one. 

Other  considerations  are  continually  pressed,  and  will  be  pressed  upon  us ; 
ther  subjects  will  be  involved  in  times  like  these,  and  we  are  called  upon  to 
meet  them  and  to  discuss  them.     I  regret  that  all  the  legislation  of  the  present 
session  on  the  subject  of  enrolling  troops  had  not  passed  Congress  before  the 
adjournment  for  the  holydays.     They  ought  to  have  been  matured  and  passec 
before  that  long  adjournment.     I  fear  we  have  nearly  lost  iorty  days,  forty 
days  of  most  precious,  valuable  time  to  the  Government  in  filling  up  our  armies. 
Again,  sir,  in  my  opinion,  it  is  much  wiser  in  all  bills  which  concern  the  enroll 
inent  of  troops  not  to  embarrass  them  by  other  provisions  not  necessary  to 
raise  the  troops  and  to  fill  the  ranks  of  our  armies.     I  rejoice  that  the  honor 
able  Senator  from  Massachusetts,  the  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Military 
Affairs,  has  determined  to  confine  the  question  of  the  enrollment  and  pay  of 
troops  to  that  single  issue,  and  not  involve  with  it  the  consideration  of  the 
abolition  of  slavery  within  the  States  by  act  of  Congress. 

Some  remarks  have  been  made,  however,  upon  this  bill  and  upon  the  sub 
ject  of  the  Crittenden  compromise,  as  it  is  called,  this  morning,  which  lead  me, 
with  the  indulgence  of  the  Senate,  to  make  some  general  observations  not  very 
pertinent  to  the  bill  under  consideration,  but  bearing  upon  the  present  state 
of  the  slavery  question.  v- 

Mr.  President,  if  we  look  at  this  question  as  now  presented  under  the  pres 
ent  aspect  of  affairs,  we  see  at  once  that  three  years  of  war  have  changed  the 
slavery  issue  altogether.  What  are  the  facts?  In  1860  the  sole  issue  concern 
ing  slavery  was,  shall  it  enter  the  Territories  ?  It  had  nothing  to  do  with 


slavery  in  the  States.  The  question  of  slavery  in  the  States  was  entirely  dis 
claimed.  Neither  the  purpose  nor  the  power  to  interfere  with  slavery  in  the 
States  under  the  Constitution  was  claimed  in  1860,  and  never  has  been  claimed 
by  any  party  in  this  country,  not  even  by  the  Abolition  party  from  its  first 
organization.  Neither  the  Democratic  party,  the  Whig  party,  the  Republican 
party,  nor  the  Abolition  party,  ever  claimed,  under  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  the  power  to  legislate  on  the  subject  of  slavery  within  the  juris 
diction  of  the  States.  The  sole  issue  therefore,  so  far  as  slavery  was  concerned 
in  1860  was,  shall  slavery  enter  the  Territories?  The  people  in  the  election 
of  Mr.  Lincoln  decided  that  slavery  should  not  enter  the  Territories,  and  that 
was  all  they  decided. 

After  that  election,  in  December,  1860,  we  met  here  in  the  Halls  of  Congress. 
The  chanipions  of  slavery  extension  and  slavery  propagandism  raised  the 
same  issue  in  a  new  form.  They  said  to  the  representatives  of  the  incoming 
Administration,  "If  you  will  change  the  Constitution  so  as  to  guaranty  slavery 
in  all  the  territory  south  of  36°  30'  which  we  now  have  or  may  hereafter 
acquire,  we  will  submit  to  the  election  of  Mr.  Lincoln  ;  we  will  remain  in  the 
Union;  but  if  you  will  not  consent  to  such  an  amendment  we  will  make  war 
upon  the  Government  and  break  up  the  Union."  Those  representatives  refused 
so  to  amend  the  Constitution.  The  champions  of  slavery  appealed  to  arms 
and  to  the  God  of  battles.  By  that  appeal  to  that  dread  tribunal  they  have 
changed  the  issue.  •  It  is  no  longer  whether  slavery  shall  go  into  the  Territo 
ries.  That  is  already  decided  against  them.  Slavery  is  abolished  in  all  the 
Territories  of  the  United  States,  and  from  this  time  henceforth  and  forever  the 
foot  of  a  slave  can  never  tread  one  inch  of  the  soil  of  the  American  Terri 
tories. 

But,  I  repeat  eir,  in  making  this  appeal  to  the  God  of  battles  and  to  high 
Heaven  they  have  raised  other  issues.  Sowing  to  the  wind  they  have  reaped 
the  whirlwind.  In  declaring  war  against  the  Union  they  have  raised  the  ques 
tion  whether  this  Government  shall  live  or  die.  In  declaring  that  they  would 
not  submit  to  the  decisions  of  a  majority  of  the  people  at  the  ballot-box,  in 
accordance  with  the  express  provisions  of  the  Constitution,  they  have  raised 
the  question  whether  republican  constitutional  liberty  itself,  based  upon  the 
divine  right' of  the  majority  to  rule,  shall  not  perish  forever.  They  did  more, 
air.  When  they  made  this  appeal  to  the  God  of  battles  and  impiously  asked 
the  blessing  of  Heaven  upon  their  cause  they  openly  and  boldly  proclaimed  to 
the  whole  civilized  world  that  they  made  war  against  the  United  States  in  the 
name  of  slavery  and  under  the  flag  of  slavery.  Slavery  was  to  be  the  corner- 
atone  of  their  southern  confederacy.  In  the  name  of  slavery  they  drew  the 
aword ;  in  the  name  of  slavery  the}7  plunged  it  toward  the  heart  of  this  Repub 
lic.  But,  sir,  under  the  providence  of  that  God  to  whose  decision  they  appealed, 
that  sword  has  been  plunged  back  into  its  own  vitals  and  its  life-blood  is  gash 
ing  all  around  us. 

They  not  only  avowed  slavery  to  be  the  corner-stone  of  their  edifice,  but 
they  boldly  proclaimed  slavery  to  be  a  divine  institution,  founded  upon  the 
Bible  itself.  They  unblushingly  declared  war  with  the  whole  civilization  of 
the  present  age.  All  are  familiar  with  the  declarations  of  Mr.  Stephens,  and 
the  leading  men  of  this  rebellion,  which  I  will  not  repeat.  But  there  is  on« 
avowal  made  not  long  ago  in  the  Richmond  Enquirer  speaking  for  the  rebel 
eaase  published  at  the  seat  of  its  power,  in  presence  of  Jefferson  Davis  and  hi* 
Congress  of  conspirators,  so  remarkable  in  its  character  that  I  will  read  from 
it  a  sentence  or  two : 

*'  The  establishment  of  this  confederacy,  based  as  it  is  upon  slavery,  and  upon  the  principle* 
of  natural  subordination,  is  verily  a  distinct  reaction  against  the  whole  course  of  the  ages' 
civilisation."  "For  liberty,- equality,  fraternity,'  we  have 

imperatively  substituted  '  slavery,  subordination,  Government .'"          *          *          *         * 

*  "There  are  slave  races   born  to  serve,  master  races  born  to  govern."         *         * 

*  *  By  these  principles  we  live,  and  in  their  defense  we  have  shown  ounselve* 
iwwry  to  die.    Reverently,  we  feel  that  our  confederacy  is  a  God- sent  missionary  to  the  na 
tions  with  great  truths  to  preach.    We  must  speak  them  boldly,  and  whoso  hath  ears  to 
bear,  let  him  hear." 

Yes,  sir,  let  him  hear  this  confederacy  novr  waging  war  against  this  Govern 
ment  boldly  avow  slavery  as  the  corner-stone.  Yes,  let  him  hear  them  declare, 
m  the  face  of  the  whole  world  and  before  high  Heavan,  war  not  only  against 
UH  American  Republic,  but  war  against  the  civilization  of  the  age ;  and,  above 


all,  let  him  hear  them  impiously  pretend  that  the  so-called  confederacy  is  a 
God-sent  missionary  to  preach  slavery  as  the  new  gospel  of  a  higher  civiliza 
tion  to  the  nations  of  the  earth.  This  is  the  appeal,  and  this  is  the  form  under 
which  they  make  their  appeal  to  the  arbitrament  of  the  God  of  battles  and  in 
the  face  of  Heaven.  I  again,  repeat,  Mr.  President,  that  by  this  appeal  which 
they  themselves  have  taken,  they  the  traitors,  and  not  the  loyal  people  of  the 
United  States,  have  wholly  changed  the  slavery  issue,  and  have  forced  upon 
this  country  other  issues,  issues  which  were  not  involved  at  all  in  the  canvasa 
of  1860,  namely,  whether  this  Government  shall  live  or  die;  whether  a  rebel 
confederacy  seeking  nationality  with  slavery  as  its  corner  stone  shall  succeed 
or  be  blotted  out;  and  whether  Christian  civilization  itself  shall  continue  to  make 
progress  or  roll  backward  two  thousand  years.  These  are  the  new  issues 
which,  in  their  appeal  in  a  form  which  I  regard  as  a  little  less  than  impious, 
they  have  made.  I  devoutly  trust,  I  most  religiously  believe,  that  the  great 
Disposer  of  events,  in  whose  hands  the  destinies  of  nations  are  held,  will  give 
to  the  loyal  people  of  these  United  States  the  wisdom,  patriotism,  unity,  and 
courage  to  maintain  the  Union  of  these  States,  to  crush  the  impious  preten 
sions  of  slavery,  and  defend  the  civilization  of  the  age  in  which  we  live. 

Slavery,  Mr.  President,  is  dying,  dying  all  around  us.  It  is  dying  as  a  sui 
cide  dies.  It  is'dying  in  the  house  and  at  the  hands  of  its  own  professed  friends. 
The  sword  which  it  would  have  driven  into  the  vitals  of  this  Republic  is  par 
ried  and  thrust  back  into  its  own.  And,  sir,  let  it  die  ;  let  it  die.  Without 
any  sympathy  of  mine,  slavery  with  all  its  abominations  may  die  and  go  into 
everlasting  perdition.  But  it  is  to  the  all  important  fact  that  slavery  is  dying 
that  I  would  call  the  attention  of  the  Senate  for  a  moment.  Look  around  you. 
Look  at  West  Virginia:  slavery  is  not  only  dying,  but  it  is  dead  and  buried 
beyond  resurrection,  upon  the  soil  of  West  Virginia.  How  is  it  in  the  State  of 
Missouri?  Slavery  is  dying  there;  ay,  practically  dead.  The  simple  question 
among  that  people  now  is,  when  shall  its  funeral  be  fixed?  When  shall  its 
final  burial  take  place  ? 

How  is  it  in  the  State  of  Maryland  ?  Mr.  Thomas,  at  one  time  Governor  of 
that  State,  speaking  upon  that  subject  at  Rockville,  said  not  long  since  : 

"Slavery  is  effectually  dead  in  this  State.  No  lot  of  one  hundred  slaves  in  the  State  will 
•ell  on  the  block  tor  $1000.  No  slave  in  the  State  can  be  made  to  render  to  his  owner  more  of 
his  labor  than  he  elects  to  render,  or  to  remain  under  his  jurisdiction  a  month  after  he  elects 
to  flee  fr^m  it.  Such  are  the  results  of  the  war  for  the  benefit  of  slavery  made  upon  the  legal 
and  constitutional  rights  of  white  labor  throughout  the  Union." 

The  other  day  we  all  listened  with  earnest  attention  as  well  as  great  joy  to 
the  eloquent  speech  of  the  Senator  from  Maryland,  [Mr.  JOHNSON,]  when  from 
an  outgushing  heart  he  spoke  the  living  truth  in  "  thoughts  that  breathe  and 
words  that  burn."  He  declared  to  us,  slavery  is  dead  in  the  State  of  Mary 
land.  His  colleague  says  the  same  thing  ;  slavery  is  a  dead  thing  in  the  State 
of  Maryland,  a  thing  of  the  past,  a  thing  that  was,  which  is  no  more  to  exist 
in  the  future  of  that  State.  Sir,  at  such  a  progress  the  very  angels  in  heaven  re 
joice,  and  all  who  love  liberty  on  earth  sing  hosannas  to  the  God  of  heaven. 

How  is  it  in  the  State  of  Tennessee  ?  The  Nashville  Union,  speaking  for  the 
people  of  that  State,  not  long  ago  said : 

"  What  Governor  Thomas  saya  of  slavery  in  Maryland  is  equally  true  of  slavery  in  Ten 
nessee.  No  slave  here  can  be  compelled  to  work  for  his  owner  against  his  will,  nor  can  a 
slave  be  made  to  remain  with  his  owner  unless  he  chooses  to  do  so.  Whenever  a  slave  U 
dissatisfied  with  his  home  he  walks  off,  as  freely  as  a  black  man  would  in  a  northern 
State  or  in  Europe. 

"In  Tennessee  the  slave  code  is  dead;  and  the  master  hag  no  longer  absolute  control 
over  the  body  and  limbs  of  hia  former  bondsman.  We  doubt  whether  any  slaveholder  in 
Tennessee  has  faiih  enough  in  the  restoration  of  the  system  of  compulsory  labor  to  give 
$100  in  good  money  for  the  best  negro  among  us.'5 

And  what  did  Governor  Andrew  Johnson,  speaking  upon  this  subject  to  the 
people  of  the  State  of  Tennessee  on  the  8th  day  of  Jnnuary  last,  say?  I  can 
not  mention  the  name  of  Andrew  Johnson  of  Tennessee  without  paying  the 
highest  tribute  to  him  and  to  the  course  he  has  pursued  in  the  midst  of  this 
struggle,  ot  which  language  is  capable.  Sir,  statesmen  have  done  well,  gene 
rals  have  won  victories  in  the  field,  but  to  Andrew  Johnson  of  Tennessee,  for 
the  course  pursued  by  him  in  this  Senate  and  in  the  State  of  Tennessee,  this 
nation,  the  American  people,  owe  a  debt  of  gratitude  which  they  can  never 
.  Sir,  I  trust  in  God  the  time  is  not  far  distant  when  we  may  hear  his 


roice  once  more  within  the  Halls  of  this  Senate  Chamber.     On  the  8th  day  of 
January  last,  in  a  speech  at  Nashville  on  this  subject,  he  said  : 

"Before  the  rebellion  we  could  discuss  all  institutions,  all  subjects,  all  measures  except 
slavery.  On  that  subject  no  one  dared  speak  or  write  or  print,  except  on  the  side  of  the  slave 
aristocracy.  Now,  thank  God,  the  time  has  come  when  the  press  is  unmuzzled,  whQB  the 
press  can  discuss  this  and  all  other  subjects.  The  time  has  come  when  this  institution  is 
dead,  when  the  chains  are  broken  and  the  captive  set  free.  The  institution  is  dead,  and  slaves 
are  not  worth  a  quarter  of  a  dollar  a  dozen.  Being  dead,  let  us  in  a  becoming  manner  pre 
pare  for  the  funeral  obsequies.  Now  is  the  time  to  dispose  of  this  great  question." 

Again,  in  the.course  of  the  same  speech,  he  said : 

"The  edict  has  gone  forth,  and  all  that  remains  to  be  done  is  to  change  the  relation  of 
master  and  slave  The  day  is  not  far  distant  when  this  nation  will  be  the  great  center  of 
civilization,  of  the  arts  and  sciences,  and  of  true  religion.  Time  was  when  th«  tide  of  emi 
gration  ran  westward ;  the  time  will  soon  be  when  it  will  run  southward.  Let  us  go  on  with 
our  mighty  work.  To  talk  about  breaking  up  a  Government  like  this  for  slavery !  It  is  mad 
ness.  Let  it  go  on  with  its  great  mission." 

Again,  and  still  later,  on  the  21st  of  January,  at  a  large  meeting  of  Union 
citizens  in  the  State  of  Tennessee,  held  in  the  hall  of  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives  of  that  State  in  Nashville,  Mr.  Johnson  said  : 

"  Is  the rfl  a  man  here  that  has  observed  this  thing  who  does  not  know  that  the  institu- 
tution  of  slavery  in  Tennessee  is  dead  ?" 

Among  the  resolutions  adopted  at  this  meeting,  resolutions  taking  measures 
to  hold  a  convention  in  that  State  to  frame  a  constitution  based  upon  this  fact, 
that  slavery  is  dead  in  Tennessee,  I  find  the  following  : 

"  Resolved,  That  as  slavery  was  th«  cause  of  all  our  troubles,  and  as  it  is  an  unmitigated  evil 
in  itself,  and  since  it  may  be  considered  dead  by  the  acts  of  its  own  friends,  that  it  may 
never  be  resurrected  to  enable  a  small  minority  to  bring  the  ruin  upon  our  children  that  it 
has  upon  us,  we,  here  pledge  ourselves  to  use  all  our  influence  to  elect  such  men,  and  only 
such  men.  as  delegates  to  such  convention  as  shall  be  in  favor  of  immediate  and  univer- 
tal  emancipation  now  and  forever.  And  we  invite  our  fellow-citizens  everywhere  to  unite 
with  us  on  this  platform,  and  thus  use  the  opportune  moment  to  free  ourselves  and  OUT 
posterity  from  the  bondage  in  which  we  have  been  so  long  enslaved  by  the  influence  of  an  ar 
rogant,  domineering  aristocracy." 

Here  we  find  Mr.  Johnson,  acting  Governor  of  Tennessee,  long  a  Senator  and 
Representative,  from  Tennessee,  who  knows  better  than  any  other  the  actual 
condition  of  things  in  that  State,  in  this  speech  declaring  in  most  positive 
terms  that  every  person  who  observes  for  himself  knows  that  slavery  is  dead 
in  the  State  of  Tennessee ;  and  the  people,  who  are  now  organizing  for  the 
purpose  of  accepting  this  as  an  accomplished  fact,  and  .of  placing  it  in  the  con 
stitution  of  the  State  of  Tennessee,  in  their  resolutions  declare  the  same  fact, 
that  slavery  is  dead,  and  that  it  has  died  at  the  hands  of  its  own  pretended 
friends. 

In  Arkacsas,  under  the  lead  of  General  Gantt  and  others,  a  constitution  is 
already  formed  making  Arkansas  forever  a  free  State. 

Why  should  not  the  real  friends  of  freedom,  in  spite  even  of  the  ter 
rible  war  in  which  we  are  still  engaged,  hold  one  general  jubilee,  one 
grand  day  of  national  thanksgiving  at  the  great  progress  which  it  has  already 
made?  \ 

Again,  Mr.  President,  how  does  slavery  stand  in  the  State  of  Louisiana?  I 
undertake  to  say  that  all  parties  in  that  State  this  day  accept  the  same  fact, 
that  slavery  is  an  institution  of  the  past,  that  slavery  is  dead  in  the  State  of 
Louisiana.  The  relation  of  master  and  slave  there  has  been  utterly  broken  up 
in  fact.  It  no  longer  exists.  The  people  of  Louisiana  are  now  organizing, 
accepting  this  as  a  fact  to  form  the  basis  of  a  new  constitution  to  make  Louis 
iana  forever  a  free  State  of  the  American  Union.  I  have  seen  a  very  recent 
letter  from  the  commanding  general  of  tljat  department.  Speaking  upon  this 
subject  in  most  clear  and  unequivocal  terms,  General  Banks  says  : 

"  It  gives  me  great  pleasure  to  report  the  progress  making  in  the  State  election.  All 
parties  participate  in  the  selection  of  candidates,  and  a  very  handsome  vote  will  be  given. 
Not  a  word  is  heard  from  any  one  of  a  restoration  of  slavery." 

"And  no  objection,"  says  General  Banks,  "is  made  to  the  free-State  basis  on 
which  the  election  is  based."  "The  mass  of  the  people  are  entirely  satisfied," 
with  the  speedy  organization  of  the  State.  "The  election  will  give  more  gen 
eral  satisfaction  than  any  that  has  taken  place  in  twenty  years."  He  speaks 
of  the  mass  of  the  people  of  Louisiana.  Of  those  rebels  who  have  left  the  State 
of  Louisiana  and  who  are  now  in  the  armies  of  the  confederacy,  he  does  not 
speak ;  they  are  not  there;  but  of  the  mass  of  the  people  who  remain  in  Louis- 


isiana  he  says  that  now  at  this  day  they  will  be  entirely  satisfied  with  the 
election,  and  that  no  person  speaks  of  the  restoration  of  slavery,  but  all  are 
satisfied  with  the  organization  of  Louisiana  upon  the  free-State  basis  ;  all  accept 
the  fact  which  is  patent  to  all  the  world,  that  slavery  as  an  institution  in  that 
State  has  ceased  to  exist. 

I  know,  Mr.  President,  questions  are  sometimes  raised  and  discussed  as  to 
what  has  caused  the  death  of  slavery.  There  are  some  who  maintain  in  all 
sincerity  the  proclamation  of  the  President  has  destroyed  slavery  within  those 
States.  There  are  some  who  say  the  abolitionists  of  the  country  have  destroyed 
slavery  within  the  States.  Some  say  the  legislation  of  Congress  has  destroyed 
slavery  in  the  States,  and  some  say  the  destruction  of  slavery  is  the  necessary 
consequence  of  the  war;  the  unavoidable  result  of  the  occupation  of  their  ter 
ritory  by  the  armies  of  the  Union.  My  own  opinion  is,  that  \vhile  all  these 
may  have  done  something,  much  perhaps,  in  producing  this  result,  more  than 
all  of  them  put  together,  the  insane  madness  of  the  pretended  friends  of  slavery 
by  declaring  war  upon  this  Government  in  the  name  of  slavery ;  by  waging 
that  war  under 'the  flag  of  slavery  ;  by  drawing  the  sword  of  slavery  them 
selves  to  plunge  it  into  the  heart  of  this  Republic,  they  have  themselves  done 
more  than  all  other  things  combined  to  put  an  end  to  that  institution  forever 
on  the  American  c*  "inent. 

God,  the  Almir"a^elj  ••  s  suffered  the  madness  of  these  men  to  bring  on  an 
issue  which  alc1^:'  u^^solve  the  great  problem  of  American  slavery. 

The  first  shot"1  '.m  flf«rt  Sumter  was  the  death-knell  of  slavery.  The  issue 
of  1860,  as  I  ha^1? .  J'fts  whether  slavery  should  enter  the  Territories.  By 
that  act  they,  th^A  ^ions  of  slavery,  changed  the  issue.  It  was  not  the 
party  which  electeLT*r^  Lincoln  President  of  the  United  States.  The  cham 
pions  of  slavery  brou^.t  on  this  war  which  involved  the  destruction  of  slavery 
within  the  States,  not  the  Republican  party.  For  the  issue  of  1860,  whether 
slavery  shall  enter  the  Territories,  they  have  forced  upon  the  country  this 
other  and  greater  issue,  whether  liberty  and  Union  shall  live  or  slavery  die 
upon  the  soil  of  every  State  of  the  United  States.  In  reply  to  this  often  repeated 
charge  that  the  Republican  party  have  changed  the  issue  and  proved  false  to 
their  pledges,  I  am  prepared  to  go  further  and  show  that,  so  far  as  the  institu 
tion  of  slavery  is  concerned  within  the  States,  that  party  never  sought  to  change 
their  ground  nor  to  interfere  with  it  at  all  until  the  necessities  of  the  war  forced 
it  upon  them.  Indeed,  sir,  if  they  had  not  made  war  upon  the  Government 
slavery  never  stood  stronger  nor  better  defended  by  State  guarantees,  nor,  so 
far  as  this  Government  is  concerned,  by  Federal  guarantees  within  the  States, 
than  it  did  on  the  4th  day  of  March,  1861 ;  and  if  those  men  had  consented  to 
remain  within  the  Union,  if  they  had  not  made  war  upon  this  Government, 
there  was  no  power  on  the  part  of  this  Government  nor  of  any  party  within 
the  free  States  in  the  slightest  degree  to  affect  or  destroy  the  institution  of 
slavery. 

You  know,  Mr.  President,  that  the  fugitive  elave  law,  harsh  and,  I  will  say, 
barbarous  as  some  of  its  provisions  were,  was  still  a  law  upon  our  statute-books 
and  was  enforced  in  every  State  of  the  Union  ;  it  was  enforced  in  Massachu 
setts  ;  it  was  enforced  in  New  York ;  it  was  enforced  in  Ohio  ;  it  was  enforced 
in  Wisconsin  ;  and  at  the  very  time  when  Mr.  Lincoln  was  elected  President 
of  the  United  States  a  citizen  of  Wisconsin  was  in  jail,  imprisoned  for  the  vio 
lation  of  the  fugitive-slave  law,  from  which,  and  upon  the  last  day  of  Mr.  Bu 
chanan's  Administration,  he  was  pardoned  as  an  act  of  grace.  These  are  the 
facts.  More,  the  centra  report  before  me  shows  that  notwithstanding  all  the 
controversies  we  had  upon  the  subject  of  the  fugitive-slave  law  and  its  enforce 
ment,  from  1850  down  to  1860,  there  were  less  per  cent,  escapes  of  fugitive 
slaves  than  at  any  former  period  of  the  Government.  I  will  read  a  short 
extract  from  this  report : 

"  The  number  of  slaves  who  escaped  from  their  masters  in  1860  is  not  only  much  lees  in 
proportion  than  in  1850,  but  greatly  reduced  numerically.  The  greatest  increase  of  escapes 
appears  to  have  occurred  in  Mississippi,  Missouri,  and  Virginia,  while  the  decrease  is  most 
marked  in  Delaware,  Georgia,  Louisiana,  Maryland,  and  Tennessee. 

"  That  the  complaint  of  insecurity  to  slave  property  by  the  escape  of  this  class  of  persons 
into  the  free  States,  and  their  recovery  impeded,  whereby  its  value  has  been  lessened,  is  the 
result  of  misapprehension,  is  evident  not  only  from  the  small  number  who  have  been  lost  to 
their  owners,  but  from  the  fact  that  up  to  the  present  time  the  number  of  escapes  has  been 
gradually  diminishing  to  such  an  extent  that  the  whole  annual  loss  to  the  southern  States 


from  this  cause  bears  less  proportion  to  the  amount  of  capital  involved  than  the  daily  varia 
tions  which  in  ordinary  times  occur  in  the  fluctuations  of  State  or  Government  securities  to 
the  city  of  New  York  alone. 

"From  the  tables  annexed  it  appears  that  while  there  escaped  from  their  masters  1,011 
slaves  in  1850,  or  1  in  each  8,165  held  in  bondage,  (being  about  one-thirtieth  of  one  per 
cent.,)  during  the  census  year  ending  June  1, 1860,  out  of  3,949,557  slaves  there  escaped  only 
808,  being  one  to  about  5,OuO,  or  at  the  rate  of  one-fiftieth  of  one  per  cent." 

I  have  read  this  extract  for  the  purpose  of  showing  the  statement  I  made  to 
be  correct,  that  notwithstanding  all  this  pretended  opposition  to  the  enforce 
ment  of  the  fugitive  slave  law  within  the  free  States,  from  1850  to  1860  the 
actual  escapes  of  slaves  grew  less  and  less,  so  that  all  this  pretenee  of  the  rebels 
that  the  escape  of  their  slaves  was  any  excuse  for  them  to  plunge  this  country 
into  civil  war  is  without  foundation.  You  know  very  well,  sir,  that  if  th« 
champions  of  slavery  and  slave  propagandism  had  peaceably  submitted  to  the 
election  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  not  the  hair  of  the  head  of  slavery  within  any  State 
could  have  been  touched.  By  every  pledge  which  he  had  given,  by  every 
pledge  of  every  political  party  in  this  country  down  to  his  election,  it  was  al 
ways  held  that  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  and  the  Federal  Government 
had  no  power  over  slavery  within  the  States  in  a  time  of  peace  ;  and  if  the 
champions  of  slavery  and  slave  propagandism  had  not  plunged  the  country  in 
war,  had  not  made  this  impious  appeal  to  arma  and  to  tjn'^j-od  of  hosts  they 
could  have  lived  in  peace  within  all  the  States  and  hav ''kiiowjnke  institution  of 
slavery  under  their  own  laws,  according  to  their  owi/  fe  their  own  dis 

position,  beyond  the  power  of  this  Government  or  ott{J^25J§J>lfcy  in  ^  ^ov~ 
ernment  to  interfere  with  it  in  any  degree.  Bur.  bring  the  -  n°  such  thing. 
"Whom  the  gods  destroy  they  first  make  mad."  l'ir  influeieir  own  madness, 
their  own  insanity,  their  own  blind  fanatical  and  imf  JjL!?logma  that  slavery 
is  a  divine  institution,  which  trampling  on  civilizatio  IK  .d  outraging  Heaven, 
by  leading  them  to  make  war  on  this  Government,  put  the  knife  to  the  throat 
of  slavery.  It  is  in  the  midst  of  its  dying  struggles.  Let  them  prepare  for  its 
last  obseques,  and  when  as  mourners  and  pall-bearers  they  attend  its  funeral, 
let  them  remember  its  own  friends  put  it  to  death,  and  gain  from  that  souree 
all  the  consolation  it  brings. 

I  remember  very  well  a  debate  I  once  had  in  this  body  with  Senator  Mason, 
of  Virginia,  on  this  point.  He  was  always  declaiming  about  the  loss  of  fugi* 
live  slaves  from  the  State  of  Virginia.  I  asked  Mr.  Mason,  "  How  many  do  you 
lose  annually  from  the  State  of  Virginia  ? "  He  replied,  "  We  have  had  a  com 
mittee  upon  that  subject  who  have  gone  into  an  estimate,  and  they  find  we 
lose  as  much  as  $100,000  worth  of  slave  property  every  year."  "Very  well, 
sir,  how  many  slaves  have  you  ?"  "About  five  hundred  thousand."  "What 
are  they  estimated  to  be  worth  ?"  You  remember  they  were  estimated  very 
high  in  those  days — at  about  eight  hundred  dollars  a  piece.  Five  hundred 
thousand  slaves  at  $800  a  piece,  would  amount  to  the  enormous  figure  of 
$400,000,000.  What  is  the  loss  of  $100,000  on  $400,000,000?  It  is  but  one 
fortieth  of  one  per  cent.,  a  quarter  of  a  million  a  dollar,  and  I  said  to  Mr.  Mason 
then  on  this  floor,  "If  instead  of  continually  denouncing  the  people  of  New 
England  for  not  enforcing  the  fugitive  slave  law,  and  underground  rail 
roads,  you  would  go  down  to  the  city  of  Hartford  and  engage  some  of  those 
shrewd  insurance  men  who  have  made  that  city  distinguished  in  that  busi 
ness  to  insure  the  people  of  Virginia  against  escapes  by  fugitive  slaves,  they 
could  insure  the  whole  slave  property  of  Virginia  at  one-  half  of  on* 
per  cent.,  and  make  immense  fortunes  at  that;"  for/<*jhe  real  loss  was  only 
one  fourth  of  one  mill  on  the  dollar.  I  remember  very  Well  the  other  question 
which  I  put  to  him:  "Sir,  if  you  undertake  to  break  up  this  Union,  if  you 
propose  to  bring  down  that  line  beyond  which  fugitive  slaves  are  not  returned 
from  the  northern  border  of  Ohio  and  New  York  to  the  north  line  of  Virginia, 
how  much  will  insure  your  slave  property  then  ?  will  ten  per  cent,  do  it,  or 
twenty  per  cent,  do  it,  or  fifty  percent,  doit?"  Mr.  President,  they  have 
tried  the  experiment,  and  slavery  lies  in  ruins  all  around  us.  Slave  property 
is  utterly  valueless.  Slaves  are  free  as  their  masters. 

The  time  has  come  which  Mr.  Randolph,  a  distinguished^  statesman  of  Vir 
ginia,  said  would  come,  when,  if  the  slaves  do  not  run  away  from  their  mas 
ters,  the  masters  will  run  away  from  their  slaves. 

The  time  has  come  which  was  foretold  by  Mr.  Faulkner  in  the  convention 
of  Virginia  in  its  better  days,  in  1832,  when  it  was  proposed  to  abolish  slavery, 


He  then,  in  substance,  said,  "If  we  shall  attempt  to  break  up  this  Union  on 
account  of  slavery,  a  time  of  anguish  and  suffering  will  come  in  Virginia  com 
pared  with  which  the  pestilence  that  walketh  in  darkness  and  the  destruction 
that  wasteth  at  noon-day  will  be  a  blessing."  They  have  realized  it  all,  and 
they  have  brought  it  down  on  their  own  heads.  It  is  not  the  Republican  party 
that  has  brought  it  upon  them.  They  have  brought  it  upon  themselves.  By 
that  overruling  providence  of  God  which  makes  the  madness  of  men  do  his 
work,  of  Him  who  rides  the  whirlwind  and  directs  the  storm,  who  rules  the 
passions  of  men  as  He  rules  the  winds  of  heaven  and  the  waves  of  the  sea,  in 
His  own  good  time  and  for  His  own  good  purpose  has  allowed  the  madness  and 
insanity  of  these  men,  in  their  ardent  and  fanatical  devotion  to  extend  slavery 
and  build  up  slavery,  to  attempt  to  destroy  this  Government,  in  order  that  He 
might  overrule  them  to  utterly  destroy  slavery  itself  and  wipe  it  from  this 
continent  forever. 

Mr.  President,  I  accept  as  a  fact  accomplished,  a  part  of  tl>€  history-  of  this 
country,  that  slavery  is  dead,  and  I  rejoice  at  it  with  inexpressible  joy.  All 
wise  statesmen  act  upon  facts  accomplished,  accept  them,  and  go  forward  in 
accordance  with  them;  but  when  I  act,  I  prefer  to  act  boldly,  frankly,  openly. 
Therefore  I  am  not  in  favor  of  doing  it  by  indirection,  by  putting  this  or  that 
or  the  other  ambiguous  provision  upon  an  enrollment  bill  or  upon  a  revenue 
bill.  1  prefer,  by  far,  to  appeal  to  the  sovereign  authority  in  this  country, 
the  people  of  the  United  States.  I  shall  not  anticipate  or  enter  upon  a  discus 
sion  of  measures  that  may  be  presented  before  Congress  further  than  to  say 
that  1  rejoice  that  the  proposition  has.corne  from  the  Senator  from  Missouri, 
[Mr.  HENDERSON,]  and  from  a  recent  slave  State,  one  of  the  States  most  deeply 
interested;  it  has  already  been  presented  to  this  body,  and  it  has  been  referred 
to  the  Committee  on  the  Judiciary,  and  it  is  before  that  committee  for  its  con 
sideration  aud  action,  a  proposition  which  appeals  at  once  to  a  tribunal  above 
Congress,  above  the  decrees  of  the  Supreme  Court,  above  the  proclamations 
of  the  President,  in  which  resides  the  sovereign  source  of  power,  the  people  of 
the  United  States,  to  have  <t>hern  declare  as  a  part  of  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  the  fundamental  law  of  the  land,  the  final  and  irrepealable  de- 
oree  that  {ruin  and  after  a  certain  day  slavery  and  involuntary  servitude  shall 
neither  exist  in  any  State  nor  in  any  Territory  of  the  United  States,  exoept  in 
punishment  of  crime. 

I  shall  not  enter  into  a  discussion  of  that  question  at  the  present  time,  for  I 
•will  not  anticipate  the  action,  whatever  it  may  be,  of  our  committee  upon  >hat 
subject,  i  shall  wait  until  their  report  comes  into  the  Senate,  simply  saying 
for  myself  that  if  this  Government  is  to  act  at  all  in  a  legislative  capacity,  1 
prefer  to  act  in  the  mode  provided  by  the  Constitution  itself.  Let  two  thirds 
•f  both  Houses  of  Congress  submit  the  proposition  to  the  Legislatures  of  three 
fourths  of  the  States,  and  when  ratified  by  them  there  will  be  no  appeal  from 
their  decision.  It  will  then  rest  upon  a  solid  ground  which  no  laws  of  Con 
gress,  no  decrees  of  the  Supreme  Court,  no  change  of  parties,  or  of  Presidents 
can  shake,  enduringiind  eternal  as  the  Government  itself. 


SPEECHES  AND  DOCUMENTS  FOU  DISTRIBUTION 

BY    THE 

UNION  CONGRESSIONAL-COMMITTEE. 

Abraham  Lincoln — "  Slavery  and  its  issues  indicated  by  his  Speeches,  Let 
ters,  Messages,  and  Proclamations. 

Hon.  Isaac  N.  Arnold — "  Reconstruction  ;  Liberty  the  corner-stone  and  Lin 
coln  the  architect."  16  pp. ;  $2  per  100. 

Hon.  M.  Ruspell  Thayer— "  Reconstruction  of  Rebel  States."  16  pp. ;  $2  per 
100. 

Hon.  James  F.  Wilson— "  A  Free  Constitution."     16  pp. ;  $2  per  100. 

Hon.  Gtxllove  S.  Orth  ion  of  Lo  >g."     8  pp.  ; 

Hon.  H.  Winter  Davis — "The  Expulsion  of  Long."     8  pp. ;  $1  per  100. 

Hon.  Henry  C.  Deming — "State  Renovation."     8  pp.  ;  $1  per  100. 

Hon.  James  A.  Garfield — "  Confiscation  of  Rebel  Property."  8  pp. ;  1  per 
100. 

Hon.  William  D.  Kelley — "  Freedmen's  Affaire."     16  pp.;  $1  per  100. 

Hon.  Green  Clay  Smith — "Confiscation of  Rebel  Property."  8  pp.  ;  §1  per 
100. 

Hon.  D.  W.  Gooch — "  Secession  and  Reconstruction."     8  pp.  ;  $1  per  100. 

Hon.  R.  C.  Schenck — "No  Compromise  with  Treason."     8  pp.  ;  $1  per  100. 

Hon.  Lyman  Trutnbull — "A  Free  Constitution."     8  pp. ;  $1  per  100.. 

Hon.  Charles  Surnner — "  Universal  Emancipation,  without  Compensation." 
16  pp.  ;  $2  per  100. 

Hon.  James  Harlan — "  Title  to  Property  in  Slaves."     8  pp.  ;  $1  per 

Hon.  Daniel  Clark — "At,  t'n'l;nei;t  t<  :on."     8  pp.  ;  $1  per  100. 

Hon.  John  C.  Ten  Eyck — "  Reconstruction  in  the  States."    8  pp.  ;  $1  per  100. 

Hon.  Reverdy  Johnson — "Amendment to  Constitution."    16  pp.  ;  $1  per  100 

Hon.  J.  D.  Defrees — "  Thoughts  for  Honest  Democrats." 

Biographical  Sketch  of  Andrew  Johnson,  candidate  for  the  Vice  Presidency, 
16  pp.;  $2  per  100. 

Hon.  J.  D.  Defrees — "The  war  commenced  by  the  Rebels."  16  pp.;  $2  per  100. 

Hon.  Henry  G.  Stebbins — "The  ability  of  the  Government  to  redeem  ita 
paper."  8  pp. ;  $1  per  100. 

Hon.  J.  R.  Doolittle— "  The  Rebels,  and  not  the  Republican  Party,  destroyed 
Slavery."  8  pp. ;  $1  per  100. 

Numerous  Speeches  and  Documents  not  included  in  the  foregoing  will  be 
published  for  distribution,  and  persons  willing  to  trust  the  discretion  of  the 
Committee,  can  remit  their  orders  with  the  money,  anc^fefce,  them  filled  with 
the  titnost  prorupd'iu-,l«,  and  wi'li  tile  t^st  juugment  as  to  'price  und  adapta 
tion  to  the  loeality  where  the  speeches  are  to  be  sent. 

Printed  by  L.  To  were  for  the  Union  Congressional  Committee. 


AMENDMENT   OP   THE   CONSTITUTION. 

SPEECH 

OF 

HON.  WM.  HIGBY,  OF  CAL, 

0 

DELIVERED  IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES, 

JUNE  14,  1864. 


The  House  having  tinder  consideration  the  Joint  Resolution  to  amend  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States- 
Mr.  HIGBY  said  : 

Mr.  SPEAKER  :.  Before  speaking  to  the  resolution  embracing  the  propo 
sition  to  amend,  I  refer  to  the  fifth  article  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  which  makes  ample  provision  and  explains  the  way  by  which  an 
amendment  may  be  made.  The  article  reads  as  follows  : 

ARTICLE  V. — The  Congress,  whenever  two  thirds  of  both  houses  s'jfill  deem  it  necessary,  shall  propose  amend 
ments  to  this  Constitution,  or,  on  the  application  of  tin  Legislatures  of  two  thirds  of  the  several  States  shall  call 
a  convention  for  proposing  amendments,  which,  in  oithor  case  shall  bo  valid  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  as  part 
of  this  Constitution,  when  ratified  by  tin  •  of  three  fourths  of  the  several  States,  or  by  conventions 

in  three  fourths  thereof,  as  the  one  or  the  other  mode  of  ratification  may  be  proposed  by  the  Congress; 
vrovidcd,  that  no  amendment  which  may  bo  made  prior  to  the  year  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  eight 
shall  in  any  manner  affect  the  first  and  fourth  clauses  in  the  ninth  section  of  the  first  article;  and  that  no  State, 
without  its  consent,  shall  be  deprived  of  its  equal  suffrage  in  the  Senate. 

The  resolution  follows  in  accordance  and  in  consonance  with  the  method 
proposed  by  that  article  of  the  Constitution,  and  it  proposes  an  article 
which,  should  it  become  a  portion  of  the  Constitution,  will  forever  prohibit 
the  institution  of  slavery  within  the  limits  of  our  country.  The  resolution 
and  amendment  proposed  read  as  follows  : 

Beit  resolved  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the.  United  States  of  America  in  Congress  assembled, 
(two  thirds  of  both  Houses  concurring.)  That  the  following  arUql?  be  proposed  to  the  Legislatures  of  the  several 
States  as  an  amendment  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  which,  when  ratified  by  three  fourths  of  said 
Legislatures,  shall  be  valid,  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  as  a  part  of  the  said  Constitutiori/nameiy : 

ARTICLE  XIII. 

SEC  1.  Neither  slavery  nor  involuntary  servitude,  except  as  a  punishment  for  crime,  whereof  the  party  shall 
have  been  duly  convicted,  shall  exist  within  the  United  State?,  or  any  place  subject  to  their  jurisdiction. 

SEC.  2.  Congress  shall  have  power  to  enforce  this  article  by  appropriate  legis  ation. 

Sir,  the  whole  debate  on  the  other  side  of  the  House  upon  this  proposi 
tion  has  been  upon  the  presumption  that  whatever  action  is  taken  by  us  as 
a  legislative  body  is  conclusive  5  that  if  this  resolution  passes  this  House — it 
having  already  passed  the  Senate — it  becomes  a  finality,  and  whatever  is 
embraced  in  it  becomes  a  portion  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States. 
Let  no  such  fallacy  sink  deep  into  the  heart  of  any  man.  The  Constitu- 


tion  has  most  amply  and  cautiously  provided  that  the  national  legislative 
branch  of  the  Government  can  make  no  such  amendment.  Why,  sir,  the 
resolution  simply  gives  the  amendment  in  so  many  words,  and  proposes  its 
ratification,  and  then  the  amendment  goes  to  the  State  Legislatures,  and 
must  be  ratified  by  them. 

There  is  nowhere  contemplated  in  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States 
any  action  by  Congress  that  more  completely  acknowledges  and  recognizes 
State  sovereignty  than  this  very  provision  of  the  Constitution  explaining 
how  it  may  be  amended.  Our  people  are  looking  with  anxiety  to  the 
action  of  Congress  with  reference  to  this  subject.  And  now  let  me  put  a 
question  to  gentlemen  on  the  other  side  of  the  House.  They  have  bela 
bored  this  side  often  and  long  with  denunciations  that  State  rights  are  not 
regarded,  that  State  sovereignty  by  our  action  is  unheeded,  and  that  we 
are  aiding  the  national  Government  to  absorb  all  powers  which  legitimately 
belong  to  the  States  under  and  by  virtue  of  the  Constitution.  I  appeal  to 
them  when  a  proposition  does  come  from  this  jside  of  the  House  that 
acknowledges  and  recognizes  State  sovereignty  in  full,  whether  they  dare 
submit  that  proposition  to  the  several  States  ;  whether  they  have  faith  in 
State  sovereignty  so  great  that  when  the  Constitution  makes  a  provision 
so  ample  as  it  has  in  this  case  and  so  safe  too,  requiring  the  Legislatures 
of  three  fourths  of  the  States  to  ratify,  that  they  dare  allow  their  different 
States  to  act  upon  this  subject. 

The  only  question  that  could  possibly  arise — and  that  one  I  find  dwelt 
upon  but  very  little — is  whether  the  times  call  for  an  amendment  of  this 
character,  but  the  great  burden  of  the  argument  on  the  other  side  is  that 
there  is  no  power  in  the  Constitution  to  do  this  act.  The  member  from 
New  York  who  has  just  taken  his  seat  [Mr.  FERNANDO  WOOD]  has  had 
the  hardihood  to  promulge  to  this  notion  that  the  ninth  and  tenth  articles 
of  the  Amendments  to  the  Constitution  do  away  and  make  a  nullity  of  the 
article  to  which  I  have  directed  attention  and  quoted.  Can  he  find  any 
where  in  the  Constitution  a  provision  by  which  it  may  be  amended  in  so 
indirect  a  way,  and  the  portions  amended  be  left  as  dead  matter  to  cumber 
the  living  body  1  He  would  search  in  vain  for  such  a  provision.  Why, 
sir,  he  would  trample  the  Constitution  under  his  feet.  And  if  we  follow 
out  this  argument  and  act  upon  it  we  will  become  violators  of  that  instru 
ment. 

I  regard  the  fifth  article  as  a  part  of  the  Constitution  just  as  full  of  vi 
tality  as  it  was  the  day  our  fathers  established  it  as  a  part  of  the  Consti 
tution  of  this  country  ;  and,  sir,  the  gentleman  from  New  York,  if  he  has 
a  particle  of  honesty,  himself  will  ignore  every  word  which  he  has  said 
upon  that  one  subject. 

Let  me  call  the  attention  of  the  House  to  the  only  limitation  in  the  in 
strument  ;  and  they  are  referred  to  this  fifth  article,  where  the  limitation  is 
to  be  found  ;  it  provides  "  that  no  amendment  which  may  be  made  prior  to 
the  year  1808  shall  in  any  manner  affect  the  first  and  fourth  clauses  in  the 
ninth  section  of  the  first  article."  But,  sir,  this  Constitution  is  entirely 
silent  with  reference  to  all  other  portions,  including  even  that  which  pro 
vides  that  fugitives  from  labor  shall  be  returned  to  service.  Upon  this  the 
Constitution  is  silent,  and  even  before  1808  it  could  have  been  amended, 


with  the  exception  above  quoted,  by  pursuing  the  course  laid  down  in  the 
fifth  article. 

Now,  sir,  what  is  there  in  the  proposition  contained  in  this  resolution  1 
It  is  that  a  certain  amendment,  specifying  it  in  so  many  words,  shall  be 
submitted  to  the  different  State  Legislatures  for  their  action,  and  if  the 
Legislatures  of  three  fourths  of  the  States  of  the  Union  ratify  it  it  becomes 
a  portion  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  And,  sir,  that  is  a 
proposition  appealing  to  State  sovereignty  that  members  upon  the  other 
side  of  the  House  dare  not  allow  to  be  submitted  and  acted  upon  by  those 
high  constitutional  deliberative  bodies. 

But,  Mr.  Speaker,  I  will  not  dwell  longer  upon  that  point.  It  is  suffi 
cient  that  we  simply  propose  what  the  State  Legislatures  ratify  and  make  a 
part  of  the  Constitution,  or  else  render  a  nullity.  Sir,  this  amendment,  if 
it  should  become  a  portion  of  the  Constitution,  strikes  at  the  root  of  the 
terrible  evil  that  is  now  piercing  the  very  vitals  of  the  nation,  whose  roots 
of  bitterness  have  sunk  so  deep  that  they  are  almost  drinking  up  the  life- 
blood  of  this  Government.  Men  talk  upon  the  other  side  as  they  did  in  the 
palmy  days  of  peace,  when  nothing  but  the  busy  hum  of  industry  could  be 
heard  on  every  side,  and  when  slavery  lay  like  a  lamb,  submissive  to  every 
law.  But  now,  sir,  when  it  has  aroused  and  become  venomous,  and  full  of 
the  spirit  of  the  tiger,  draws  the  sword  and  makes  no  distinction  in  its 
wrath,  and  is  feasting  upon  the  very  life  of  this  nation,  we  bear  the  same 
songs  in  this  Hall  that  we  used  to  hear  in  the  days  of  peace,  showing  how 
utterly  heartless  men  must  be,  having  no  blood  or  patriotism  in  their  veins. 

We  are  told  that  the  institution  of  slavery  in  the  rebellious  States  has 
rights  under  this  Government.  The  rights  of  slavery !  What  right,  in 
God's  name,  has  the  institution  that  has  now  two  or  three  hundred  thou 
sand  men  arrayed  in  arms  against  the  Government  ?  Is  this  bold  effrontery 
to  be  weighed  as  argument,  and  are  we  yet  to  hear  about  the  rights  of  slavery  ? 
It  has  culminated  in  concentrating  its  whole  power  against  this  Govern 
ment.  What  right  has  it  which  this  Government  is  bound  to  respect  1 

What  was  its  morale,  sir?  In  early  days  as  an  institution  it  was  humble 
and  unpretending.  While  it  was  an  institution  in  the  colonies  it  had  no 
political  power.  The  charm  of  this  whole  institution  has  been  in  the  politi 
cal  power  that  it  has  exercised.  But,  sir,  as  we  emerged  from  dependents 
as  colonies  and  became  an  independent  nation,  the  fathers  who  lived  in  its 
very  midst  trod  very  cautiously  over  the  ground.  Why,  sir,  what  was  its 
first  exercise  of  power?  When  Virginia,  which  was  then  a  slave  State, 
ceded  the  Northwest  Territory  to  the  Union,  it  demanded  that  slavery 
should  be  prohibited  forever  in  that  Territory,  and  the  power  was  admitted 
to  rest  in  Congress  to  prohibit  the  institution  from  ever  going  there  while  it 
was  a  Territory.  Such  was  the  morale  of  slavery  in  its  early  days,  so  far 
as  the  exercise  of  political  power  was  concerned.  But,  sir,  it  increased  in 
magnitude  and  in  proportions,  and  became  interwoven  with  our  whole  sys 
tem.  It  was  held  in  early  times  to  be  an  evil,  but  a  necessary  one ;  it  was 
impossible  to  throw  it  aside  then,  but  it  was  hoped  and  believed  by  those 
who  were  helping  to  sustain  it  for  the  time  being  that  it  would  wear  away 
and  finally  disappear. 

But,  sir,  as  it  increased  in  power,  so  it  acquired  political  ascendency  ;  it 
spread  over  a  vast  extent  of  country ;  slavery  was  the  rule  and  freedom  the 


exception,  and  the  poor  whites  under  its  shadow  were  insignificant  in  com 
parison  with  master  or  even  bondsman.  Slave  labor  became  profitable  ;  it 
constituted  the  great  labor  force,  and,  what  was  still  sweeter  than  all,  it 
gave  such  a  political  ascendency  that  it  enabled  a  few  States  and  a  compar 
atively  few  white  people  to  control  the  Government.  I  declare,  sir,  for 
myself,  and  no  man  is  responsible  for  what  I  say  but  myself,  that  no  Gov 
ernment  is  republican  in  form,  body,  or  spirit  that  tolerates  such  an  insti 
tution  as  slavery.  I  lay  it  down  as  a  self-evident  truth  to  my  mind,  and  if 
every  other  man  would  take  the  same  ground  there  could  be  no  such  insti 
tution  in  existence  under  the  Constitution  as  we  now  have  it.  But  as  I  am 
probably  alone  here  in  that  view  and  as  that  construction  would  not  be 
given  by  other  men,  I  prefer  that  the  Constitution  be  changed  in  the  respect 
that  is  contemplated  by  this  resolution.  For,  sir,  I  would  not  be  willing 
to  trust  all  men,  with  the  construing  of  the  Constitution  in  its  many  pro 
visions,  for  fear  self-interest  and  love  of  personal  aggrandizement  would 
influence  in  construction  instead  of  a  love  of  equal  justice.  It  has  been 
claimed  in  latter  years  that  slavery  is  an  institution  sanctioned  by  divine 
law  and  by  the  word  of  God.  Ah,  sir,  those  who  made  that  claim  did  not 
read  the  Scriptures  very  faithfully,  for  they  would  have  found  it  said  even 
in  the  Old  Testament  that  when  a  servant  escapes  from  his  master  he  shall 
not  be  returned  to  him  again  ;  he  shall  let  him  go  free  : 

"  Thou  shalt  not  deliver  unto  his  master  the  servant  which  is  escaped  from  his  master  unto  thee : 
"  He  shall  dwell  with  thee.  even  among  you,  in  that  place  which  he  shall  choose  in  one  of  thy  gates,  where 
it  liketh  him  best :  thou  shall  not  oppress  him." 

And  over  and  above  all,  they  forgot  the  new  covenant,  whose  Founder 
told  the  world  that  He  came  to  "  fulfill  the  law." 

But,  sir,  it  will  do  for  old  fogy  exploded  divines  to  dwell  upon  that  sub 
ject  and  show  the  validity  and  divine  origin  of  slavery — for  such  men  as 
the  one  who  was  voted  for  for  Chaplain  of  this  House  (Bishop  Hopkins)  at 
the  commencement  of  this  session.  The  evils  of  the  institution  and  the  ef 
fects  resulting  from  those  evils  are  too  numerous  to  mention  in  a  brief  hour 
speech.  I  have  declared  that  the  institution  is  anti-republican,  and  that 
no  Government  which  tolerated  it  could  be,  in  form,  body,  or  spirit,  a  re 
publican  Government.  Why,  sir,  men  have  stood  upon  this  floor,  prior  to 
the  rebellion,  who  represented  States  that  had  more  slaves  than  free  white 
inhabitants,  and  I  instance  South  Carolina  as  one  of  those  States.  Those 
slaves  have  no  political  or  civil  rights,  and  yet  every  five  of  them  are  equal 
to  three  white  persons,  giving  a  representation  on  this  floor  to  four  hundred 
thousand  slaves,  not  one  of  whom  has  in  the  State  or  nation  a  voice  or  a 
vote,  and  who  can  enjoy  no  civil  or  political  rights  any  more  than  the  horse 
and  ox  which  his  master  owns.  Two  hundred  thousand  white  inhabitants  and 
five  hundred  thousand  slaves — equal  to  three  hundred  thousand  whites — 
would  give  five  hundred  thousand  inhabitants  to  be  represented  in  the  State ; 
and,  under  the  rule  giving  one  member  of  Congress  to  every  one  hundred 
thousand  inhabitants,  that  would  give  to  a  State  having  only  two  hundred 
thousand  white  inhabitants  five  Representatives  on  this  floor.  That  is  not 
republicanism,  sir.  That  is  anti-republicanism.  It  is  the  very  worst  kind 
of  a  Government  imaginable.  It  is  despotism  to  the  extent  of  the  slave 
representation — a  cruel,  brutal  despotism. 

Mr.  Speaker,  the  people  of  the  South  have  been  extremely  cunning  in  the 


argument  of  this  question  whenever  it  has  been  raised.  Whenever  the  spirit 
of  free  discussion  has  arisen,  and  the  question  of  slavery  has  been  debated, 
they  who  were  in  favor  of  the  abolition  of  slavery  were  told  that  they  were 
in  favor  of  giving  to  the  slaves  the  civil  rights  that  white  people  had,  the 
political  rights,  and  not  only  that  but  the  social  rights.  The  latter  point 
was  pressed  with  more  vehemence  than  all  the  others.  And  while  they  have 
pressed  that  as  an  argument  why  slavery  should  not  be  annihilated,  the  se 
cret  with  the  South  in  holding  fast  to  slavery  has  been  the  political  power 
which  it  has  given  them  in  this  Government.  There  is  the  charm ;  there 
is  the  fascination.  It  is  power,  political  power.  That  is  what  they  have 
held  to. 

The  member  from  New  York  who  last  addressed  the  House  [Mr.  FER 
NANDO  WOOD]  said  a  most  beautiful  thing,  but,  sir,  he  put  it  to  extremely 
wrong  use  :  "The  best  Government  is  that  which  governs  least."  I  agree 
with  him  in  the  truism.  The  Government  that  does  away  with  slavery  as 
an  institution  does  away  with  the  most  infamous  system  of  government  that 
was  ever  instituted  on  God's  earth.  It  does  away  with  a  system  which 
makes  the  man  who  domineers  a  cruel  taskmaster.  It  does  away  with  a 
system  which  perverts  the  judgment  of  him  as  master  and  panders  to  the 
basest  propensities  of  the  human  heart.  It  is  a  perpetual,  never-dying  des 
potism.  And  I  will  join  with  the  gentleman  from  New  York,  [Mr.  FER 
NANDO  WOOD,]  and  all  others  who  will,  in  perpetuating  all  over  the 
country  that  truism  which  he  has  uttered.  I  would  have  the  voice  of  free 
dom  and  free  discussion  and  the  song  of  freedom  go  South,  and  the  other 
song  of  the  lash  and  the  clanking  of  chains  should  recede  as  these  two  ad 
vance.  Such  would  be  the  consequence  of  carrying  out  the  truism  which 
the  gentleman  has  published  here  to-day. 

Sir,  I  was  speaking  of  slaves.  They  are  property.  They  are  held  as 
such ;  that  is,  when  we  acknowledge  the  institution  as  a  legal  and  rightful 
one  between  man  and  man.  But  I  deny  that,  in  right  and  justice,  such  an 
institution  can  exist.  But,  sir,  the  argument  is  that  in  States  the  institu 
tion  exists.  If  it  be  so,  human  beings  are  property  ;  and  the  five  hundred 
thousand  slaves  are  nothing  but  property  in  the  estimate  as  between  man 
and  man.  And  yet,  sir,  when  the  Representative  leaves  his  State  and 
comes  into  this  Hall,  the  five  hundred  thousand  slaves  in  his  State  count 
as  three  hundred  thousand  inhabitants,  and  the  State  sends  here  three 
members,  on  property  owned  in  human  beings  over  whom  they  exercise  ab 
solute  control  as  property,  whom  they  can  buy  and  sell.  But  here  they 
stand  and  talk  about  the  rights  of  freemen,  the  rights  of  free  speech,  the 
sovereignty  of  States,  a,nd  the  rights  of  their  constituents.  It  is  an  insti 
tution,  sir,  which  has  its  pens  where  humanity  is  herded  like  cattle,  and  has 
its  block  in  market  where  human  beings  are  bought  and  sold.  And  that  is 
claimed  to  be  republicanism.  It  is  a  republicanism,  sir,  which  is  born  of 
hell,  not  of  earth,  or  of  above  the  earth.  It  is  an  institution  which  is  now 
at  war  with  this  Government,  and  which  will  destroy  it  if  it  can.  And  we 
on  this  side  of  the  House  propose  to  do  away  with  it  in  the  way  pointed 
out  by  the  Constitution,  or  so  to  amend  the  Constitution  that  it  cannot 
exist  when  peace  is  restored ;  and  they  cavil  nt  it  on  the  other  side  of  the 
House.  That  shows,  Mr.  Speaker,  how  hollow  their  arguments  are,  and 
how  insincere  their  purposes  and  pretenses. 

i 


8 

These  villains  were  laying  destruction  across  the  pathway  of  the  Govern 
ment,  seizing  its  property  here  and  there,  going  in  military  array  and  doing 
it,  threatening  men  if  they  did  not  yield,  and  yet  we  are  told  that  this  Gov 
ernment  has  bee^  waging  war  against  the  South  !  That  is  as  big  a  lie  as 
the  institution  (^slavery  is  itself.  I  call  slavery  the  great  lie  of  the  age, 
got  up  by  a  body  of  men,  while  this  is  a  simple  lie  by  individuals,  arid 
history  will  put  the  stamp  upon  it. 

But  we  are  told  further  than  thatn-and  here  is  where  men  attempt  to 
escape — that  Abraham  Lincoln  gave  strength  to  the  rebellion  by  his  procla 
mation.  On  the  1st  day  of  January,  1863,  Pres:dent  Lincoln  issued  his 
proclamation  after  giving  a  hundred  days'  notice,  ample  time  for  the  rebel 
States  to  lay  down  their  arms  and  come  back  into  the  Union  and  be  as  they 
were  before  they  tool?  up  arms — a  grace  which  none  but  the  God  of  heaven 
would  have  given,  and  I  doubt  whether  He  would  have  given  it. 

Why,  sir,  the  Opposition  seek  an  excuse  under  that  proclamation  to 
withdraw  their  aid  to  the  Government  in  this  hour  of  its  peril.  Let  me 
remind  such  of  a  little  piece  of  history  taken  from  the  words  of  the  vice 
president  of  the  confederate  States,  and  which  has  become  a  part  of  the 
history  of  that  government.  He  says  that  the  new  government  formed  by 
them  is  based  upon  the  institution  of  slavery  as  its  foundation.  Do  gentle 
men  object  to  getting  at  the  foundation  and  knocking  it  to  pieces  1  D j 
they  desire  to  haggle  at  the  branches,  and  attack  the  trunk  before  they 
reach  the  foundation  ?  Is  that  the  way  to  destroy  a  system  which  lias 
slavery  as  its  foundation  1  There  is  a  preferable  mode.  Strike  at  the 
foundation  first,  knock  it  out,  and  the  superstructure  will  fall,  and  the 
whole  mass  will  come  crushing  down.  It  is  the  best  blow  possible  to  be 
struck. 

Mr.  Speaker,  gentlemen  who  would  avoid  supporting  the  Government 
cry,  "Oh,  the  proclamation!"  The  proclamation  struck  .at  the  founda 
tion.  It  struck  at  the  root  of  the  terrible  aggression  against  this  Govern 
ment.  It  struck  at  the  very  vitality  of  it,  and  every  man  of  sense  and 
judgment  knows  it,  and  they  only  deny  it  for  an  excuse  for  not  rendering 
aid  tcT  the  Government. 

Mr.  Speaker,  there  never  was  a  time  when  the  proposition  contained  in 
this  resolution  and  in  this  proposed  amendment  of  the  Constitution  needed 
more  the  action  of  this  body  than  now,  at  this  time,  during'  this  session  ; 
and,  sir,  the  States,  by  the  Legislatures,  should  act  upon  it  at  their  earliest 
session  'after  it  shall  have  passed  this  Congress.  Tiie  (Constitution  should 
be  adapted  to  the  condition  of  the  country  where  the  noble  men  of  the 
Joyal  States  are  giving  up  their  lives  and  where  they  have  given  them  up 
by  thousands.  Their  bones  are  bleaching  upon  hundreds  of  battle-fields. 
They  are  drenching  with  their  blood  the  soil  over  which  they  are  moving 
with  victory  perching  on  their  banners  and  killing  out  the  roots  of  slavery 
so  that  it  cannot  exist ;  and  we,  as  the  legislative  part  of  this  Government, 
should  be  adapting  the  Constitution  and  all  the  laws  as  speedily  as  we  can 
to  the  new  condition  of  the  country  where  our  armies  do  march  in  triumph, 
so  that  we  may  never  see  nor  feel  again  this  power  that  has  come  so  near 
being  the  end  of  this  nation. 

McGnx  &  WITHEROW    Printers   and  Stereotypers,  366  E  street   Washington ,  D.  0. 


